Tidying up the mess

BabyStepper

Gap, I have no idea if that's the best strategy or not to help your daughter financially, but it's a lovely thing to do either way, so thoughtful. I'm sure she'll appreciate your help.

The work is coming in again after the summertime lull, so that's good. My end of September wage should be up around where it was previously. I'm trying to figure out some plans for next summer. The break was good but I really didn't need such a long one. I'll see how it all goes.

SO looking forward to nailing the Santander card next week!!

Sunshine_girl2

De lurking Babystepper to say how you have inspired me to look at my debt busting a different way. I am moving home today but hope to read your diary again and get a new strategy together . Keep going , your debt free date isn't far off.

BabyStepper

Hi sunshinegirl, good to meet you and I'm glad I've helped inspire you. I like a change in strategy so good luck with that, whatever helps you keep going, I change mine every ten minutes. :rotfl:

I also meant to say my matched betting profits are at £75. That covers our travel to the wedding, now I need to figure out where we're staying. The venue is £100 per night for us both, with breakfast. There are cheaper places but not so close by, and I really want to be with the wedding party and not have to worry about taxis and stuff, so that's £200 to find. I'm all over it.

savingholmes

Congrats again on the matched betting income. Hope you enjoy the wedding.

BabyStepper

Thank you savingholmes. It's a slow and boring process but definitely reaping some rewards. The wedding's not until January so plenty of time. After finding hotel money I need to worry about a gift. They gave us £300 cash when we got married so we need to at least match that (and increase due to inflation??) It's making me sweat a bit just thinking about it, need to keep matched betting til I get there. If the worst came to the worst we can take it from debt repayment money. I'd rather not with my cc deal deadlines looming in December and February. Just need to keep trying. Thank you so much for your encouragement, you're appreciated. :A

savingholmes

I am surprised at such a generous wedding gift - however I wouldn't go adding on inflation. Gifts are usually relative to income etc - is there something you could get for them that is on their list but not as expensive?

BabyStepper

Unfortunately they don't have a list - they've lived together for quite a while so have all the things they need. They're saying they just want a small contribution to their honeymoon. I don't grudge returning the favour in cash as their gift was so generous and really appreciated. It is a lot of money to find though and they're not aware we're paying off debt. Maybe I need to give it a bit more thought.

enthusiasticsaver

Not everyone's circumstances are the same and there should be no quid pro quo when it comes to gifts. My mum has a much bigger pension than us so when it comes to gifts she is very generous. When we give, we give according to our budget. Similarly our children have more outgoings than us as they have mortgages and children so we gift more in value terms than they do us. No awkwardness at all.

Just give what you can afford.

BabyStepper

Thanks for the advice re. gift giving. We've made no decisions yet, going to see what's manageable nearer the time.

OH's wage arrived and with the new pension payment taken off and the wage increment added on, we're only down £53. I'm pleased about that. I figured it's a good use of the increase in wage, so we're not getting used to having extra money to play with. The next step will be to find a few quid in the budget to start paying into mine.

There is an odd noise coming from the car. It's booked into the garage on Monday. The car fund has £150 in it so I'm waiting with baited breath to see what the damage is, hopefully not too much and the emergency fund can cover any excess then we'll repay ourselves.

I haven't done many matched bets recently, I'll need to get back onto that this weekend. I encountered a difficult bookies website (Karumba, if anyone's interested) and just couldn't be bothered dealing with them. I'll sort it soon.

I had an email about our gas and electricity. Our monthly payment will be increasing by a lot come October. I need to figure out what to do, or think about another switch. We'll see.

I'm about to do an update as I got Santander paid off!! :T:T:T

Overall everything is under control so that's good. Debt is lower than I ever remember it being. I guess miracles happen.

BabyStepper

[STRIKE]Barclaycard (1) £3,044.54[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Lloyds (1) cc £434.33[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Barclaycard (2) £517.12[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Hitachi loan £970.60[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Overdraft £2,000[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
[STRIKE]Santander cc £3,435.67[/STRIKE] PAID OFF
Barclaycard (3) £1,250/£1,020 0% Feb 2020
MBNA cc £5,325.99/£4,820 0% Feb 2020
Lloyds (2) £907.57/£760 0% Nov 2020
Halifax cc £3,342.25/£2,765 0% Oct 2020

Total May 2018 £21,228.07
Total September 2019 £9,365
£11,863.07 paid off :T:T:T

Under £10k!!! :j:j:j